


Sorry I'm Late

by InksandPens



Series: FNAF the Musical: In-Between Moments [2]
Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, Real Person Fiction, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Baby is mentioned bud doesn't appear, Freddy is mentioned but doesn't appear, Mark is mentioned but doesn't appear, Nate appears but has no lines, Phone Guy is mentioned but doesn't appear, Random Encounters, deviousness of questionable practicality, they're there in spirit - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 04:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12741129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InksandPens/pseuds/InksandPens
Summary: Questions I attempt to answer in this installment:1. Why was Springtrap in a delivery box?2. How did Nate and A.J. both know about the Bite?3. Given that Baby scared him into transferring, why is A.J. okay around Springtrap?4. Why didn't Phone Guy just give A.J. the newly-available third shift, if he presumably knew the guy wanted more hours?5. Why did the first-person view Nate have of Balloon Boy getting bitten to death seem to affect him so viscerally?6. Why does Nate seem familiar with the local animatronics' nightly habits?





	Sorry I'm Late

Of course, he'd find out after it was too late. 

A.J. had thought his plan was foolproof. That new night guard was already skittish after only the first night on the job. It should have been _easy_ to get rid of him and take over his shift! Just give him one more night with the regular crowd, and just when he was starting to second-guess his assumptions,  _spring_ a bigger terror on him the third night. 

The timing would've been perfect. It was always the third strike that was out. That's why he'd mailed the package to arrive at the end of the third day. The janitor would carry it inside right before he left for the night. Yeah, the return address was mandatory, but it'd get ripped up when the gremlin escaped. Nothing would tie the old animatronic back to him. Then the new guy would be out of the picture, and another shift would be open for A.J. to offer his time. 

Besides, A.J. knew better than a lot of folks that even after a history of relative peace at work, a sudden scare would make one never want to go back. 

(Not that Springtrap would actually kill anyone. Probably.)

But _noooo_ , New Guy turned out to be one of those destructively spiteful types. The purple-clad guard huffed derisively as he recalled showing up to an empty pizzeria that morning, an idle police car outside. Turned out the guy had gone off the deep end, showing up to work with a bag of guns and _shooting the janitor._ Color him surprised. 

But that wasn't the worst part. No, he still could've salvaged that plan. After all, now Freddy's needed a new night guard even sooner. He'd just talk to his employer today instead. Then he'd be here when the package arrived and nobody would need to know about it. 

But he'd been denied. Again. Seriously, why wouldn't his boss let him work more? Was the guy low-key peeved about his transfer request? Was this his way of getting back at him? If so, he really should've been over it by now. 

Slumping in the desk chair, A.J. kicked himself into a half-hearted spin. The party was ending, the parents starting to tug their kids away from the stage. He'd probably have to help with cleanup now that the janitor was out of commission. He didn't usually mind cleaning, but today it served as another reminder that his plan had fallen through. Pouting, he dragged himself to the broom closed and hauled the implement out to the dining room. 

At least if he dawdled enough, he'd have an excuse to stay late. Then he could get his surprise shipment away from the place. Maybe he'd pay the janitor a visit on the way home. The guy was probably lonely at the hospital.

He still ended up cutting it close. He wend out to get his shipment just as whoever had been called in showed up. 

A.J. almost dropped the box. Fumbling as the animatronic inside shifted, he scrambled away from the door, watching as the guard trudged through. 

A.J. never would've thought he'd see Nate again.

They'd both been working when the Bite had happened, but Nate was the one who had actually witnessed it. He'd been on office duty while A.J. tried to shoo some stray kids out of the kitchen area. He'd seen the whole gruesome thing through the camera feed. A.J. could still remember how panicked the guard had sounded when he told his coworker that something had happened and he needed to keep the kids occupied. A.J. never caught a glimpse of the accident, but he heard everything that happened afterward. The cries of the poor kids who had seen everything, the whispered horror and outrage of the parents, the frantic calls of  _did you know this kid?_

The wavering whisper of Nate calling their boss to tell him that a child had gained a severe head injury thanks to one Freddy Fazbear. 

Nate had put in his resignation notice the next morning. Honestly, A.J. had admired him for not just quitting on the spot. But he knew it wasn't just out of respect for standard resignation procedure. The guard had enjoyed working at Freddy's. He just seemed to take naturally to the technical side of the job, and had an enthusiastic respect for the mascots. Heck, he may have even been a little crazy; his only response when A.J. had hesitantly explained the reason for his transfer had been "Oh, her too?" 

Of course, after sitting through one night at Freddy's, A.J. had come to realize that this place wasn't nearly as bad as the sister location he had arrived from. The animatronics here were a piece of cake to deal with. Eventually he even got used to the idea of them creeping all over the place. They were easier to handle, given how much smaller they were than...

It almost made up for the substantially lousier pay. Almost, but not quite. Hence his need for more hours. 

Regardless, leaving Freddy's so abruptly had been painful for Nate. A.J. hadn't heard from him since their last day shift together almost a decade ago. And yet here he was, in that familiar uniform.

He didn't seem happy to be back. 

The Purple Guy smiled. 

His plan might still work, with a new target. 

* * *

 

"Sorry I'm late. Traffic was a-?"

A.J. stopped mid-stumble as he took in the state of the office. A mess of papers dressed the floor. Half the balloon wall had popped. Stacked boxes had been overturned. Was that the vent cap he had just stepped on? Was that an old marionette stuck in the fan?

_What?_

He searched the whole pizzeria, calling for his former coworker. Nate was nowhere to be found. 

Neither were any of the animatronics. 

_What happened last night?_

Worriedly, he began searching again, this time for his springing trap. Which he found tied up in the closet.

Good grief, what was it going to take?! All he wanted was a few more hours! 

Oh well, he sighed as he started untangling the fuzzy green terror. At least he had free time to visit the janitor.

**Author's Note:**

> Questions I still have:  
> 1\. How did Springtrap come to be in Purple Guy's possession?  
> 2\. Why does Springtrap behave for Purple Guy?  
> 3\. Seriously, what is Springtrap's background in this universe?  
> 4\. Did the Puppet matter at all, in the end?  
> 5\. Why did they keep a rotten cupcake up there?  
> 6\. Did Phone Guy call Nate specifically, or was he just the only one who accepted the summons?  
> 7\. Did A.J. tell anyone just how close he came to dying the night he requested the transfer?


End file.
